Ted Stamm

Lisson Gallery now represents the estate of the American
abstract painter Ted Stamm (1944 – 1984) in New York and London. The gallery will present a solo exhibition in
New York in March 2018, featuring works from the artist’s “Wooster” series, including
paintings, works on paper, archival material and photographs of the Wooster
Designator street works. Accompanying the exhibition, Lisson Gallery will
produce the first major publication on Stamm with an essay by historian Alex
Bacon.

Coming of age in the mid-1960s, Stamm was an
integral part of the artists enclave of SoHo in downtown Manhattan. Upon
graduation from Hofstra University in 1968, Stamm returned to his hometown of
New York to continue his investigation of painting and printmaking. Between
1968 and 1972, Stamm produced lyrical abstract paintings consisting of poured
red, blue and pink paint on canvas. In the summer of 1972, inspired by the work
of Ad Reinhardt, he introduced grid-like patterns of black markings onto these
works, which he referred to as his “Cancel” paintings. Black became an important
component of Stamm’s work from this point forward, a colour he associated with
rebellion, rigor and reduction.

In
1973, Stamm began to make conceptually-driven works determined by systems of
chance. For his “Chance” series, Stamm invented a system whereby the rolling of
a dice or spinning of a roulette wheel would determine the format of the
specific work and the number of layers of paint. In 1974, Stamm encountered an
irregular shape on the pavement on his street in SoHo — a rectangle joined on
the left by a slightly shorter triangle. Titled the “Wooster” series for the
location of this revelation, these geometric forms with hard edges furthered
the artist’s
exploration of shaped canvases, formalist elements of the line, and literal as
well as depicted shapes.

Often working in different, overlapping series,
Stamm created the “Dodger” works at the same time as the “Wooster” series. The “Dodger”
shape was named for the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team and derived from the
curved angles of a baseball field. Composed of arched stretchers, joined to
irregular polygonal shapes, an interior shape was defined in precisely painted on
raw canvas. The “Dodger” series evolved to the “C-Dodger” series in the late
1970s, as Stamm became increasingly fascinated with the concept of speed and
the aerodynamic design of cars, trains and airplanes. The “C” in the
title referred to the supersonic passenger jet airplane the Concorde. In 1979,
Stamm introduced the “Zephyr” series which were inspired by the high velocity
stainless-steel train of the same name that set speed records for travel
between Denver, Colorado and Chicago, Illinois in 1934.

Stamm was heavily engaged in experimental work
with other artists and his friends during his lifetime. For his “Tag” series,
visitors to his studio were asked to make a mark on a found garment tag that
was affixed to a page in a sketchbook. Stamm would then respond to this mark in
a second sketchbook of the same design, and both pages were then stamped with
the date and other collateral material to create a record of the time and place
of their exchange.

In
the mid 1970s Stamm also made proto graffiti
street interventions that he titled “Designators”. Stamm discreetly stenciled a
small “Dodger” shape in locations around New York City that held a personal
significance to him. On repeat visits the image would be altered by changing
black to silver or by adding a T on top of the shape. Other works from this series
includes the “TT” and “Wooster” Designators.